


An Explosive New Year

by leveragus



Category: Major Crimes (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Hostage Situations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-07
Updated: 2014-02-07
Packaged: 2018-01-11 12:09:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1172897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leveragus/pseuds/leveragus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The team has to attend the New Year’s Eve party gala, but not everything goes has planned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_December 30 th 2013_

Sharon Raydor stood on her feet as Assistant Chief Taylor explained to her the situation.

"But Chief..." she started protesting. "Is it really necessary? The team just closed the car bomb case and with Rusty failing his field test..."

"This is not negotiable, Captain" Taylor interrupted her waving his hands with his usual arrogance.

"But Major Crimes division was supposed to have the next two days off, since we've worked on Christmas" In her voice there was a hint of annoyance. Her team had barely had any free time and they were all exhausted.

"I'm well aware of that, Captain, but things have changed. I need you at the gala party. Both the  City Mayor and the Governor of California will be attending. With these new threats against the Governor, the Chief of Police and I have agreed that everyone must attend the party so we can have extra surveillance"

She frowned hands on her hips "So what you're really saying is that we are guests, but in reality we will be working without getting paid"

Chief Taylor shot her a glare. He could definitely see that Provenza and Flynn were having a bad influence on the always diplomatic Captain. "This is an order Captain, so make it happen!" he ordered before leaving the office.

Sharon watched her boss leave and with a sigh she dropped heavily on her chair. These holidays weren't going exactly as planned. Case after case her Christmas festivities had been interrupted and with Rusty being nervous and grumpy about this police operation and complaining she didn’t feel the Christmas spirit. She had been disappointed that her kids didn’t to come to visit and the only time she had heard from them was during a quick phone call on Christmas day. And now, on top of that,  New Year's Eve was going to be ruined.

She looked up and from the window giving to the murder room she saw her team laughing and joking while waiting for the day to finish. With all the paperwork done, there was nothing much to do. She knew that they probably already had plans with family and friends and now she was about to ruin them. She slowly got up and walked out of the office giving herself the courage to shatter the carefree atmosphere.

"Captain!" Provenza shouted from where he was leaning in his chair. He had his hands entwined behind his head and a big smile on his face. "Are we ready to finally call it a day and leave this place for the next two days? No offence" he swung his chair to look at everybody else in the room. "but I'm pretty sick of seeing your faces every day."

"Yeah, we love you too" Flynn glared at him playfully.

"You know you'll miss us, Lieutenant" Amy grinned no longer afraid of the older man's rough attitude, he only used it to cover his teddy bear side.

"Yeah, that's why he won't retire. He doesn't know what to do without us" Sanchez joined the teasing.

"Hey, hey... what is it now? Pick on Provenza day!"

They all laughed.

"I'm afraid I've got bad news" Sharon felt bad about interrupted them and their laughter suddenly died.

"Don't tell me we have another case" Flynn grunted. "There are another divisions in the department"

"It's not a case" she sighed. "We have to attend the gala tomorrow evening. It's mandatory, the Chief insisted."

"Wait? What?"

"But we've already had plans, captain" Amy Sykes said. "My family is here and..."

"I know detective, I know..." she rubbed her forehead, a headache was coming. "Both the Mayor and the Governor will be attending the party and there've been some threats. The Chief of Police thinks that having more police officers attending the gala will increase security."

"So we're going there as guests, but we'll be actually working." Tao shook his head.

"Yeah" Sharon confirmed. "And I'm afraid you can't bring any plus ones so, Lt. Tao if your wife and son don't mind having Rusty for the night..."

"It's fine, Captain. Kevin is having some friends over, some sort of pyjama party, I'm sure Rusty will fit in just fine."

"Thank you" she smiled gratefully. "Taylor approved for extra agents monitoring your house during his stay if you're worried about security"

"It's really no problem, Captain."

"And Buzz, you don't have to attend, being a civilian, but you're welcomed to join us if you don't have any plans"

"Thank you Captain, but my sister is taking me to a party with her friends..." the young technician answered.

She nodded. "I know this isn't what we've planned and I'm as disappointed and angry as you are, but it's out of my hands"

"We understand, madam." Sanchez said letting her know they didn’t blame her. They all stood in silence, the mood changed in the room

"Hey, what's with the long faces?" Provenza exclaimed. "We've still got the rest of the tomorrow and the1st January off, right captain?"

She nodded. "Yeah, we've just have to be there at the party"

"Okay, so if everything goes smoothly we'll just go there for a few hours, eat free food, drink," Sharon glared at him. "Okay, no drinks since you'll be on duty" he grunted rolling his eyes at his always-follow-the-rules Captain. "and when the party ends we can go away and continue our vacation. I might even find a cute girl to kiss at midnight" he smirked and everyone rolled their eyes at him.

"I say we've finished here for today. The party tomorrow starts at 8 o'clock and dinner will be served at 9. Taylor assured me we will be all at the same table. Also, no uniform. We need to mingle with the crowd and it's black attire so it's tuxedo for men..." she heard the men in the room groan in complain "and cocktail dress for women" she looked at Amy who nodded. "So, I'll see you tomorrow night" she turned around and entered her office to gather her things. She put the files on her desk away and sent a quick text to Rusty telling him she was on her way. The young boy wasn't going to be happy about the change of plans. He got really scared earlier today when he thought he was in trouble and detective Sykes reprimanded him for not following the rules. It had taken her nearly an hour to calm him down and she was still shaken by the all situation. She knew it had been necessary so the teenager would finally realized how serious the situation was, but she was a mother and her only goal was to protect him.

She turned the lights off and exit the office.

"Lt. Flynn" she exclaimed seeing him still sitting at his desk. He was the only one there. "I thought I said you could all leave"

He turned around. "Yeah... I'm just..." he looked sad.

"Something wrong?" she walked towards his desk and leaned against it, her coat and bag in her hands in front of her. “Trying to figure out how to let your date down?” she joked, but she really hoped that wasn’t the case. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t like the idea of him seeing other people.

“What?” he frowned. “Oh,” he shook his head once her words registered in his brain. “No, of course not.” He took a deep breath “I'm trying to come with way to tell Nicole I won't make it tomorrow night. I was supposed to go to her party at her house"

"I'm sure she will understand. You've still got the 1st free, maybe you can invite her for lunch or something." she suggested. She understood how important it was for him to keep making things right with his children. After the mess with their misunderstood relationship, he was trying to make amends again.

"Hey, that's actually a great idea." His eyes lit up "I can invite her and her family and my son Matt out for dinner. It will be easier without having my ex-wife around"

She smiled. "See. There's always a solution." she patted his arm. "I'm sure that if you explain Nicole how things are, and no free interpretation," she eyed him grinning, still teasing him for the all friend/girlfriend ordeal "she won't be angry and she'll understand it's just work and it's out of your hands. That, if you could, you would have loved spending new year's eve with her." she paused. "And if you still have trouble, I could call her too and explain the situation" she promised him.

"That's why I need you. You're great at all this family stuff. I'm..." he sighed "I never know the right thing to say."

She grinned. "Which is actually ironic since you're great dealing with victims' family and comforting children" Her mind tried to ignore him saying 'I need you', things would get too complicated if  she acknowledged how it made her feeling hearing those words from him. The slight blush on her cheeks, the butterflies in her stomach, the happy feeling surrounding her. Yeah, it's something that she shouldn’t be feeling for her lieutenant.

"But when it's about my kids and my family I just freeze. I stop thinking and make a mess of everything"

"It will get better, Andy." she reassured him. She stood back up "Well, I should be going. I told Rusty I was on my way there"

"I'll walk with you" Andy got up and put his jacket on. He turned off the lamp on his desk and walked with her to the lifts.

"So, they've finally managed to drag us to one of those stupid, monkey suit galas" he said while they waited for the lift.

"I've been a couple of times when I was in IA. Never liked them. Everyone is so false. Smiling at you while they talk bad behind your back"

"I used to attend the annual police party in December when I drank. Free booze, what's not to love?" the lift arrive and they got in. "But once I got sober, I realized how boring they really were. I spent the last New year's eve watching Provenza getting drunk and make a fool out of himself. Definitely more entertaining"

Sharon laughed. "You two are going to behave tomorrow, right? We don't need the headlines to say: two police officers kicked out of Governor’s party"

"Oh, I'm sure Taylor would love it" he joined her laugher.

They arrived at the car park and Andy followed her to her car. "Well..." she said once they got there. She was looked around embarrassed not sure what to do.

"Hey, how about I'll come and pick you up tomorrow?" he said nervously. "We're all car-pooling. Sanchez is picking up Amy while Provenza and Tao are going with one car"

"Thank you, Andy. I wasn't really looking forward driving with stilettos and a cocktail dress. You're sure it's not a problem?"

"No problem at all" he smiled. "I'll come by at half seven?"

"That's perfect. See you tomorrow"

"Bye" he waved at her.

Sharon watched him from the rear view mirror of her car as she drove off. She wasn’t sure how, it felt like she just got invited on a date by Flynn… again. 


	2. Chapter 2

_December 31st_

"Are you sure you've got everything?" Sharon shouted from her bedroom.

"Yeah, yeah..." Rusty shouted back from his room. "You know I'm only out for one night" the boy was now leaning against her bedroom's door-frame.

"I'm sorry about all this" she apologized to him again. "I really wasn't planning on working tonight"

He shrugged. "That's okay. Kevin said that he's got some new video games and that his friends are cool, so..."

"Just listen to what Mrs Tao tells you to do and don't run from your security detail"

"After the scare I had the other day?" He exclaimed. He had a couple of nightmares about it.

Sharon looked at him concerned. "Have you talked to Dr Joe about it?"

"Yes," he shifted on his feet uncomfortably and Sharon dropped the subject.

"I'll try to send you a text at midnight" She patted his arm. There was a knock at the door. "Your security detail is ready to leave"

They walked out of the room and Rusty picked up his rucksack before putting it on his shoulders as they continued down the hall.

"Okay, then..." Sharon said still not very sure if letting him go out of her sight was such a good idea, but it's not like she had any other choice. "Behave"

Rusty nodded rolling his eyes.

She gave him a smile "And have fun"

"Yeah, because my life is full of fun." he rumbled

"Because you're a teenager and deserve to have a teenager's life every now and again"

She opened the door and nodded at the two agents waiting outside. "Okay" she put her arms around him for a hug. "I'll see you tomorrow and text me when you get there" she said in his ear.

"I will." he pulled back. "I don't have too much fun at your fancy party." he grinned.

"Oh," she rolled her eyes. "just go." and playfully pushed him out of the door.

She looked at her watch and saw than she had a little bit more than an hour to get ready before Lt. Flynn arrived. She opened her wardrobe in search for the right dress to wear. She needed something classy for the occasion, but also something easy to move in if something were to happen. Her eyes landed on a red dress. She remembered wearing it a couple of years back, before becoming leader of major crimes, in an undercover operation. "This will do" she muttered to herself as she laid the dress on the bed. She then went to the bathroom to take a shower and do her hair.

Five minutes before half seven, Sharon was looking at herself in the mirror. The dress still fit just fine, showing off her perfect curves and making it easier for her to move and run in it. She sprayed some of her favourite perfume, the one she had discovered that Flynn liked too, and applied the last minute touches on her make up. Her hair was pulled up in a simple, but elegant braid. She smiled at her reflection. She knew it was work, but she was ready to have some fun too and spend some quality time with her officers outside of work, especially with Andy. After she went with him to his daughter's wedding and to the theatre to the Nutcracker, she found out that it was easy to talk to him and she liked spending time with him. When he was relaxed and in social occasion, he was completely different from the always angry officer she remembered. They also had perfect working relationship that's why she mostly took his to the interrogation room.

The doorbell rang and she quickly gathered her purse and coat. She opened the door and saw Flynn standing nervously in the hall, he was looking around and he finally turned his head when he heard the door open. His jaw fell open and his eyes ravaged her from head to toe and back again, his eyes connecting with hers. "My God, Sharon... You're gorgeous!" he breathed, then he blushed embarrassed since he was openly admiring his captain.

She smiled. "Well, thank you Andy, you're not bad yourself" The lieutenant was dressed in a deep black tuxedo. He had a red vest and a perfectly knotted bow tie.

"May I?" he offered to help put her coat on.

"Sure" she smiled and after making sure the alarm was on and the front door locked, they walked down to Andy's car.

"Your idea worked out" he said to her in the car while driving.

"Hmm...?"

"With Nicole" he explained. "She understood that had to work this evening. She heard about the event on the news and we planned to out for dinner tomorrow night. Just me and Nicole, her husband and the boys."

"That's great, Andy" she smiled, genuinely happy for him.

"Yeah, my son won't be there, though. He's going back to college in the morning, but the most important thing is that my ex-wife and her douche of a husband are away for something… so they won't be there to cause trouble"

"I'm really happy for you. I know you wanted this"

"Yeah" they arrived at the venue and a valet opened their doors. Andy handed him the car keys in exchange for the ticket and he guided Sharon towards the entrance with a hand on the small of her back.

They first had to go through security and the metal detector. They showed their badges and were cleared to carry their weapons inside. Once they passed the hall, they entered the big and magnificent ball room. The music played by the live orchestra filled the room and many guests were already scattered around, chatting and laughing.

"There" Andy whispered in her ear as he pointed at Provenza in the far corner waving at them.

Sharon could feel his hot body pressed against her back and shivered at the sensation. They walked closer together as they reached the group.

"Captain" Provenza greeted them. "You look different. More human"

"Was that your way of saying I look good, Lieutenant?" she eyed him.

"The dress looks good on you, Captain" he shrugged.

"Thank you" she smiled accepting the compliment. "I see we've all cleaned up nicely" Sanchez, Provenza, Tao were all dressed in tuxedos while Amy had a long silver dressed.

"Rusty arrived to my house okay, Captain." Tao informed her. "When I left they were all laughing while watching a movie"

"That's great to hear and thank you again for your hospitality."

"Come on, Captain, we're all kids and responsibility free tonight. Let's enjoy this party" Provenza raised his glass full of soda and took a big gulp.

"Lieutenant, you remember, right, that we're here for work."

"Yeah, yeah!" he waved her off.

Andy shook his head. "Can I get you something to drink?" he asked Sharon touching her arm, something that made Provenza raise his eyebrow suspiciously.

"I'll have what you're having, thank you" she smiled laying her hand on top of his.

Andy nodded and walked towards the opened bar. Sanchez followed him to get drinks for the others. Ten minutes later they came back and Andy handed her glass to Sharon.

"Oh God, don't tell me you've started drinking that crap too" Provenza eyed the familiar drink, the same that was inside his best friend's glass.

"What?" she took a sip of the cranberry and soda. "He made me tried it and I liked it."

Flynn snickered. "Made me try it? If memory serves me right, someone here stole my glass to take a sip" he waved his thumb at her. "And ended up drinking it all"

"Yeah, whatever" she patted his arm to make his shut up. And the others tried to hide their smiles at their attics. "You can't criticise it until you've tried it, Lieutenant."

"Oh, believe me, I did. I still think it's a girly drink"

"Hey" Andy protested. Sharon's hand, which was still on his arm, slowly ran up and down calming him immediately down.

"And what do you know about girly drinks, Lieutenant?" Amy teased the old man.

"Bought enough of them for all my ex-wives" he grumbled.

"Here you are" Chief Taylor joined their group. "I hope you're all looking around for potential suspects, not just having fun"

"Of course, Chief" Provenza gave him a false smile. "We're, you know, under cover"

"Well, we're going to be seated soon. I just wanted to tell you that your table number is 11"

"And where will you be seated, sir?"

"My wife and I will be seated at the Mayor's table?" he replied with an air of superiority. "Please, keep your eyes open" and he walked away.

"Yes, why would he sit with us mere mortals?" Provenza mocked him and others laughed.

"Well, did you really want him at our table, sir?" Julio Sanchez asked.

"Oh God no, would you just imagine the indigestion I would have just for listening to him talking during dinner?"

"Well, shall we go and find our table?" Sharon suggested and they all nodded.

They soon found their table and it wasn't the best place in the dining room, actually they were quite separate from the rest of the guests.

"Well, at least their feeding us" Provenza commented taking a seat.

Andy pulled a chair out for Sharon and helped her get seated, she turned her head around to smile at him in thanks. She already knew what to except, every time they had gone out he had always been a true gentleman. A very happy Andy took the seat between her and Provenza and his old friend leaned towards him.

"What are you doing? You know it's not a date, right?" he hissed in his ear.

"What? It's called having good manners, you should try it out" he snapped back but Provenza just shook his head at him.

They all talked about their families and other casual topics while the entrees were been served. While the others had nearly finished with theirs, Andy noticed that Sharon hadn't touched her plate yet and he knew why. He reached out with his fork to her plate and stole the black olive that was on top of the mushroom tart. She looked at him gratefully and started eating while keeping talking to Amy. Provenza and Sanchez looked at Andy curiously and feeling their eyes on him, the lieutenant looked up.

"What?" he exclaimed a bit annoyed.

"What was that?" Provenza eyed him.

"What? She doesn't like black olives." He just shrugged like it he didn't know what was wrong.

"How do you know that?"

"She told me at Nicole's wedding"

"That was months ago!" He exclaimed a bit too loudly and everyone at the table was now listening to their conversation. "I don't even remember what my ex-wives liked or didn't like"

"That's probably one of the reason they divorced you" Sanchez joked at Tao patted him on the back laughing along him.

"What's going on here?" Sharon asked curiously trying to follow.

"Provenza here is all worked up because I know you don't like black olives." Andy commented as his friend was still fuming next to him.

Sharon smiled. "If you want, Lieutenant, I can share some other of my food preferences that Andy doesn't know here" She went along with the joke.

"What? There's something I still don't know about you?" Flynn smirked, his eyes playfully looking at her.

"Oh, there are so many things you don't know about me, Lieutenant." She replied back with the same glint in her eyes and the others wondered if they noticed they were openly flirting with each other.

Half way through dinner, Sharon's phone started vibrating in her purse and looked at phone to see who it was. She sighed. "Excuse me"  she quickly rose from the table and made her way out into the hall. She had been so fast that Andy didn't have the chance to get up and asked her what was wrong. The waiters took away their empty plates and asked what they wanted for dessert. Everyone ordered and since Sharon wasn't back yet, Andy ordered for her. The minutes passed, but there was still no sign of their captain.

"I'm sure she'll be back soon" Amy said when everyone was looking around in question. "Maybe she went to the ladies' room."

But Andy kept his eyes on the dining room door anxiously.


	3. Chapter 3

Andy was getting impatient. He got up abruptly. "I'm going to look for her!" he threw his napkin on his chair and turned around. Provenza had been snarky and sarcastic all evening, but now he too was concerned for the captain's mysterious disappearance. He shared a look of alarm with his partner and nodded, getting up too. In that moment, Sharon walked past the dining room archway and quickly walked to their table.

Andy sighed relieved, glad that she was back okay, until she stood next to him and got a closer look at her face had understood that that was not the case. Her eyes were red and puffy like she had obviously been crying. Even though she had probably gone to the bathroom to wash her face and fix her makeup, Andy had seen to many women cry in his life to recognize the signs, so had Provenza who was now looking at her worriedly.

"Are you okay?" Andy asked her putting a hand on her shoulder and helping her with the chair.

"Of course" she put on sad fake smile and, once she was settled, she began eating her desert.

Andy knew she was lying, he saw her take every bite reluctantly, forcing the chocolate cake down her throat. He kept her eyes on her wondering what had happened,  quite unexpectedly he felt her on his knee, patting his thigh as to assure him she was fine. She turned around to talk to Amy, continuing the conversation they had interrupted long ago. She was putting a strong front for everyone, but he knew she was struggling with something and even though her hand was still on his leg, he couldn’t let it go. He turned towards his partner who arched his eyebrow in question. Andy nodded, it was up to him to find out what was going on.

Soon they were told they could leave the dining room and continue the rest of the evening in the ballroom. Tables and chairs were scattered around the dancing floor and the live band began playing again. The division occupied a table and some officers from drugs joined them. They kept looking around while sipping silently their non-alcoholic drinks. They didn't know what else to do. Some other guests, clearly not police officers, had been brave enough to adventure on the dance floor, but the party was getting boring. At least it was for Provenza who had an arm propped on the table and his head resting on his hand.

"This thing is killing me" he complained. "I need a drink, a stronger one, to make this party more bearable"

"Didn't you say you were going to find a cute girl to kiss at midnight?"  Sanchez reminded him smirking.

"With this lively crowd? Forget it!" They all laughed. “Look at Taylor and the Pope flirting with the Mayor and the Governor, can they be more obvious?” They all followed his gaze.

“If they can get us more money for overtime and new and better equipment, and if they can unfreeze the promotions, I’m all for them flirting.” Sharon said bitterly before taking a sip of her drink.

“What? Can’t wait to be Commander?” Provenza wiggled his eyebrows.

“Sore subject there, Lieutenant” she glared at him.

Andy knew what she meant by that. She had once told him all the promises Taylor and Pope had made her when Chief Johnson left and how they went back on their word and practically told her that, given her age, she should be happy of what she had.

Provenza looked at her strangely. If she had been herself, she would have probably reacted in a different way. Suddenly Andy got an idea and leaned over her to whisper in the ear.

"Would you like to dance?" he asked.

Sharon trembled at the feeling of his soft breath against the back of her ear, she looked at him curiously, wondering if he was serious.

"You know we're here for work, right?" but her lips curled up anyway. "Yes and I thought the idea was to pass as civilians. What is a better way than to join the crowd? We can dance around and look for someone suspicious at the same time." he grinned and she couldn't help but to smile back.

"Taylor won't be happy" she continued her arguments even though she already knew that she was going to join him on the dance floor.

"Screw Taylor" he shrugged "I'm not going to let him completely ruin my night" he got up and held a hand out for her to take.

She looked at his eager eyes, begging her to follow him. She shook her head with a chuckle and put her left hand in his, letting him guide her through the dancing couples until they reached a nice corner. They soon stepped in time with the music and Andy swayed around without a problem, showing off his dancing skills. She knew he was a good dancer. It had surprised her at his daughter's wedding that the scruffy and tough Lieutenant had such a curious and unexpected talent. She asked him how he had learned to dance and he confessed to  her that his mother had made him take dancing lessons when he was younger telling him that every respectful gentleman of her family needed to know how to dance for every occasion. He had also told her that it didn't hurt that knowing how to dance had helped him with the girls back in his school days and she had laughed at the image of a young Andy Flynn flirting with the girls at proms nights.

Sharon looked around, conscious about the fact that she was openly dancing with her subordinate in front of her superiors and other important people. She took a step back from him, wondering if they were dancing too close, if the others could see their bond and how comfortable they were in each other’s arms. He didn't let her get away from him and took another step towards her, holding her tighter against his body.

"Andy" she warned, even though it sounded a lot like a moan.

"Sharon, relax" he smiled downn at her.

But she couldn’t relax. As much as she wanted to just dance with him and forget where they were, it was possible. She had spent most of her career following the rules, climbing the ladder of success by not bothering anyone important and making a name for herself with her professionalism and talent.

She looked up at his brown eyes, shining at her. She could see it. For months she had tried to ignore it, but she couldn’t anymore. She knew what their were hiding, or better, not hiding. And in that moment, in his arms, she knew she felt it too. At the verge of the end of her career, she started to feel like she didn’t care that much about the rules, about behaving like everyone expected her to.

She gave him a true smile and relax in his arms. If she could, she would have laid her head on his chest and forget about her troubles, about her worries

Andy saw the changing in her stance. “What?”

“Nothing.” She gently shook her head still smiling. “I think I’m finally enjoying this party”

Lt. Louie Provenza was leaning against the bar counter. He had finally decided that the evening was too boring for anything to happen and he was sipping his scotch while watching the couple dance.

He recognize the smitten look on his partner’s face as he was looking down their Captain. The fact that he had been so worked up with the all Nutcracker ballet story should have been a warning sign. Flynn was falling in love with Sharon Raydor, or probably he was already too fat gone.  He couldn’t really blame him. Sharon Raydor was an incredible beautiful and intelligent woman, and she had grown on him too. Not to the crazy point of being in love with her, but the more he got to know the real woman behind Captain Sharon Raydor the more he liked her and he could even consider her a friend. But the path his longtime friend was going down was a dangerous one. He didn’t doubt that Flynn’s feelings might be reciprocated, he could tell that Sharon was interested too. But he had seen so many good officers lose everything for getting burnt like that and the thought that his two friends could get hurt scared him.

Julio Sanchez walked towards the bar and stood next to him. He raised his eyebrow when he saw the content of his glass but said nothing. He followed his gaze.

“Do you know what’s going on there?” They saw Sharon happily laugh at something Flynn said the lieutenant had his special boyish grin on, the one he used when he was flirting.

“Nothing but trouble, my friend.” The old man muttered. “Nothing but trouble” and they watched Sharon’s expression suddenly change and she rushed towards the balcony and Flynn followed her soon after.

Outside, Sharon was leaning  against the railing. Her forearms cold at the touch of the cold metal. She heard the door open and immediately close behind her. She knew he was going to follow her. He quietly came next to her and he mirrored her position. They both looked at the LA street life. They could hear techno music playing from one of the clubs and people were already celebrating the arrival of the new year. A cold breeze made her shiver and after a moment she felt him place his jacket around her shoulders and she snuggled inside it as she turned her head towards him and smiled in thanks. His presence wasn’t invading, at the contrary, she felt secure.

“Jack called” she suddenly broke the comforting silence.

“He was the one on the phone earlier” he added. The one that made you cry, he left the words unsaid.

“He was drunk” she continued after a long pause. “He has started drinking again” desperation filled her voice “With his gambling addiction and now this again, I …” she quickly dried her tears “I’m afraid he’s going to be dangerous for himself or worse, for the children, even though I know for sure he hasn’t called them in a while.” Andy waited for her to continue. “He told me some horrible things, hurtful things. But it was just the alcohol talking…”

“That doesn’t matter!” he snapped angry at the man that was too far away. “It doesn’t justify him. He needs to take responsibility for his action.  And if he doesn’t apologize…”

“I know, I know” she tried to calm me by placing a hand in his.  She had already gone through this in the past, she didn’t think she had the energy for do it all over again. “I think this is the last stray. I have been thinking about it since summer. He’s never going to change. I need to move on. I will always love him, he’s the father of my children, but I’m not in love with him. I’ve stopped being in love with him a long time ago.  I want to file for a divorce, but I’m afraid of what it will do to him.”

“I can’t tell you what to do, Sharon” he squeezed her hand. “I think after all these years you need to but you and your needs first for a change. What I can tell you is that whatever you decide, I’ll be here for you”

She put her other hand on top of his and laid her head on his shoulder. She was about to say something when suddenly shots were fire from inside the building.

“What the hell!”


	4. Chapter 4

They rushed towards the balcony door and looked through the window. They saw people running and screaming and they heard other shots being fired. Provenza and Sanchez were taking cover behind the bar counter while trying to fire and the armed men in ski masks. The shooters started threatening the civilians, taking them by force and having them kneeling in the middle of the ball room. The officers had no other choice than to surrender, slide the weapons out and came out with their hands up. Provenza made some kind of comment which got replied with a punch to his face. Flynn groaned angrily and made a movement to draw his weapon and open the door, but Sharon's hand on his arm stopped him.

"What are you doing?" he hissed resentfully. "We need to go in"

"No, Lieutenant" she called him by rank telling him immediately that she was his commanding officer and no matter what had happened between them during the evening, now it was time to go back to their titles. "We need to hide for now and assess the situation" she dragged him away from the window and behind a column.

"I can't just stand here while my partners are in there" he tried to get free from her grip.

"Andy!" she exclaimed, hoping he was going to calm down. "If you go in now and start shooting you will only get yourself killed" she made him understand. "Let's figure this thing out" she sighed running her hands through her hair and leaned her back against the column. "I left my bag inside" she muttered.

"Huh?"

"My bag" she turned around. "I left my bag inside. My phone, my gun and my flat shoes are in there"

"You carry your shoes in your bag?" he frowned.

"Andy!" she exclaimed making his focus.

"Right" he lifted his leg up and leaned down to retrieve a second small hand gun from his ankle holster. "Here, you can have this one" he handed her the gun and then he double checked his. The secure was off and he had a full charger and a spare one in his jacket. "Careful, though. I don't have extra bullets, so you've only got six shots"

"Well, let's hope it doesn't come to a shootout"

"I haven't heard any sirens yet, Do you think they know what happened?"

"I don't know, it depends if someone managed to give the alarm" she wondered why it was silent too. She peeked from behind the column to take a look, but one of the shooter must have closed the blinds.

"Damn" she cursed.

"Good job I have this" he retrieved his phone from his pants and dialed 911.

"911, what's the emergency?"

"Yeah, this is Lieutenant Andrew Flynn, badge number 2805 with Captain Sharon Raydor. We're at the New Year's party with the Governor and we have a hostage situation."

"Let me patch you through SWAT"

They waited a few seconds and Flynn passed the phone to Raydor. "Hello?"

"Yes, this is agent Danny Foster, who am I speaking to?"

"This is Captain Sharon Raydor, Major Crimes. We have a hostage situation at the Governor's party"

"We were just about to come and check it out. The outside team missed their latest check up call. What's the situation?"

"My agent and I were at the balcony when they started shooting. I saw three agents down and others taken hostages with the civilians. In the main ballroom I saw six shooters, all in ski mask, but I'm sure they have other men posted"

Flynn looked at her in surprise and admiration, wondering how she managed to see and remember all that. His focus had only been on Provenza and Sanchez.

"Okay. We'll be there soon and try to negotiate. I would normally suggested to stay where you are and let us deal with it, but if we can have eyes in the inside that would be great"

"We'll see what we can do. I won't put other in dangers" she locked her eyes with Flynn's.

"Okay, I'll let central know to connect you to my phone. Please, give me an update in half an hour"

"Sure" she nodded and close the phone call. Fortunately Andy's phone had a still a full battery. She still had her back against the column and she tried to ignore how close Andy was. She could feel his breath on her face and if the circumstances had been different she would have loved to have his body against hers as he pushed her up against the column, hands on her hips and his lips devouring hers.

She closed her eyes shaking her fantasy away.

"So," said Flynn "What's our next move?"

"SWAT will arrive soon trying to make contact with the terrorists, but we need to get more information without getting ourselves capture or killed"

"Okay," he nodded he was ready for some action. "We can't obviously go through the main door. I saw a small window at the far left, it might lead to another room"

She nodded and followed him carefully to the window. Luckily it was opened and they saw that it led to a small empty dark room.

"It's secure" he whispered as he climbed over the window sill and then offered her a hand to help her get inside.

"I was certainly not expecting jumping and climbing tonight" she commented as she took her heels off and put them in a corner.

He lightly chuckled. "Now I understand the flat shoes comment"

"This is something you men have it easy." She looked around and studied the room. Nothing interesting they could use. "Nothing here. Let's try to move on" she nodded towards the door.

Flynn slowly walked towards the door and was ready for anything that might be on the other side. He was about to turn the doorknob, when he heard voices approaching. He put a finger on his lips telling Sharon to be quiet and still.

"This wasn't part of the plan" someone, a man, was shouting. "I'm not a cop killer"

"What were you expecting?" somebody else hissed back angrily "A welcome party. We had to take care of the guards outside and the Governor's secret service, but I was surprised about the officers undercover, that was not part of Malcolm's plan."

"Yes well, I don't think Malcolm has it together. He seemed kind of nervous"

"We only need to stay here and wait for the money then it's over"

"I don't like it man, I just don't like it"

"Stop being a wimp and be useful. Stay here while I check how it's going with the Major"

They heard steps walking away which meant that only one shooter was left behind the door and apparently he was the weaker one too. Andy and Sharon looked at each other and understood what they had to do. Andy counted to three with his fingers and then opened the door. Sharon stumbled outside like she was drunk.

"Hey, can you help me?" she stammered her words and started laughing without reason.

The white and skinny man looked startled and jumped. "Hey lady, you can't be here" he said nervously.

"I think I had too much to drink. I've lost my way to the party" she leaned against the door frame.

"You can't be here" he said approaching her. Sharon walked inside the room and he followed her. In all happened in a flash. Andy quickly disarmed the man and punched him in the face dragging him inside the room. Sharon closed the door, leaving them hidden from the others. The man gasped and tried to fight back, but Flynn soon had him restrained and sitting on a chair.

"Stay right there, you scumbag" he hissed.

"Look guys, I don't want any trouble." The man soon exclaimed squirming in his chair.

"You should have thought that before taking any hostages and shooting cops." He kicked him in the leg when he saw him trying to get up.

"Lieutenant!" Sharon exclaimed. "We may not be at the precinct, but this man still has rights" she told him.

Flynn snapped his head towards and gave her his "Are you serious?" glare.

"Now," Raydor stood in front of the man. "Let's see what you can tell us"

"How do I know you won't just shoot me after I talk?"

"Listen pal, for now you're the only one we got here. You know what that means?" Flynn approached him leaning dangerously above him. "That everything will be pinned on you. Life in prison and you'll be lucky to see the light of day"

"I was only supposed to make sure they got in, I didn't know all this was going to happen" the man started sobbing. "They promised me 5 grant if I could get them inside the party. I work here as a cleaner. It seemed like easy money."

"How many are there?" Sharon asked.

"10" he quickly responded. "I saw 10 of them get inside plus Malcolm, the leader"

Sharon and Andy nodded.

"Okay, you just stay here" Andy snapped the cord of a telephone and tied the man's feet to the chair and then stuffed his mouth with a napkin. "There you are, all wrapped up and ready for jail" he lightly patted his cheek smirking.

They exited the door leaving the man inside. "We'll cover more ground if we go separate ways" Sharon suggested looking both left and right in the corridor.

"You're kidding right?" Andy glared at her like she suddenly had grown two heads. "There's no way I'm leaving you without backup"

She rolled her eyes. "You know I'm a police officer too? I did the academy, training and everything." But she couldn't help feeling a bit touched that he wanted to protect her.

"Look," he waved at his right. "We know that going that way will only lead us to the ballroom which is a bad idea. We'll both go left and see where it takes us"

She nodded and followed him down the corridor. They slowly made their way down, passing some empty rooms and checking every corner before moving forward. They stopped in front of a door. They had reached the end of the corridor.

"I wish we had the blueprint of the building" she said.

"Maybe you can ask for it when SWAT calls back, even though there should be one on every floor showing the emergency exits"

They suddenly heard a noise coming from inside the gentlemen's bathroom. It all happened so fast. Sharon felt someone behind her and a hand covered her mouth silencing her screams.


	5. Chapter 5

Flynn's finger twitched on the trigger. "Mike!" he hissed angrily when he recognized who had grabbed Sharon and lowered his gun. "Are you crazy? I could have shot you"

"Sorry" Lieutenant Mike Tao looked apologetically as he released the Captain. "Sorry Captain. I didn't mean to scare you"

"That's okay" she was starting to feel her heart slow down to a normal speed. "Just… don't do that again" she accompanied her words with a small smile letting him know there were no hard feelings.

"Quick, let's go inside" they moved inside the bathroom where Tao had been hiding.

"How did you manage to escape?" Flynn asked while laying his gun on the side of the bathroom sink. He opened the tap and splashed some water on his face and damped his hair. He was feeling hot and all the adrenaline rush wasn't good for his high blood pressure.

Tao gave an embarrassing cough. "I was in the bathroom when they started shooting. I peeked to see what was happening and when I saw that there were too many of them, I hid inside a stall and waited for things to quiet down"

"You did the right thing" Sharon reassured him lightly patting his arm.

Andy dried his face with a paper towel and run his fingers through his wet hair combing them back. "So, what's our plan now?" he asked the Captain who was trying not to be distracted by him again. Was he purposely doing this to her?

"I need to call the SWAT team back. We still need those blueprints"

"Hum.. Captain?" Lt. Tao interrupted her. "I took these" he pulled out his phone and showed her the photos of the map he took.

"That's great" she took his phone and started scrolling on the touch screen. "We are here" she pointed out.

"And here is where we tied our suspect" Andy looked from behind her shoulder and pointed and the room.

"I saw two of them posted here" Tao said "while I was trying to go downstairs, but then I had to retreat"

"If we can reach it and take them down, it will be easy for SWAT to come in and clear the ballroom with the hostages."

"They are using the hostages as shields in the more vulnerable parts of the building" Tao told them.

"Makes sense. There are too many weak points. I'm surprised our guys outside haven't tried anything yet."

"Let's get an update" Sharon dialed the number and was soon patched through to SWAT agent Foster.

"We were waiting for your call. Are you okay?" he soon asked.

"Yeah, I've found another one of my agents. We're three now and we've took one of the suspects down." She reported exchanging glances with her Lieutenants.

"That's great news. We've been negotiating with their leader, he calls himself Malcolm."

"Yeah, we've heard about him. We've interrogated the suspect. He was employed here. He was offered 5,000 dollars to make sure Malcolm and ten others had access inside"

"This Malcolm guy. He has asked for a ransom. A million for the Mayor and another two for the Governor, but I don't know. I have the feeling he was stalling for something. I think he has an ulterior motive."

"Well, we've found a way in for you. South entrance, one floor below us."

"Yes, they've secured the other doors with explosive that's the only one with two guards posted. It must be their exit plan. But my men don't have a clear shot and we think we saw that they have a trigger for the bombs."

"So if we can catch them by surprise and taken them down…"

"My men will do the rest to secure the building" he finished for her.

"Okay" she nodded confirming the plan with Flynn and Tao who had been listening carefully. "One of the guards is patrolling the access to the stairs. We'll go in ten minutes"

"Roger that. Good luck" he hanged up.

"That's three suspects we have to take down" Flynn didn't like the idea of her facing the danger. They didn't have their vest on and they were less armed than the bad guys. "Tao and I can take care of them, you…"

"No way, Lieutenant!" she stopped him glaring at him. She knew what he was doing, but she was a Captain, a police officer, not a defenseless woman.

"I'm just saying"

"Your concern is appreciated, but not necessary. We're going. All three of us"

"Okay" Tao interrupted them. "I've got a full clip."

"Yeah, me too" Andy checked his gun again.

"We could use the same trick we used before" Sharon suggested.

"I've got the feeling it won't work again" Andy smirked remembering how fun it had been to see her pretending to be drunk.

"Let's go" she said nodding at both Tao and Flynn as they opened the door.

"You can stay back" Andy whispered to her, going in front of her and she rolled her eyes at him.

They quickly and silently walked towards the door and Tao slightly open it so he could look through the small gap. The guard was right in front of the stairs pacing back and forward in a small distance.

"Let me" Andy stepped in front and showed them a bar of soap he had snatched from the bathroom. They both looked at him strangely and raised their eyebrows in question. Flynn opened the door furthermore and threw the bar the soap right above the guards head so it landed on his left. The noise distracted the guard and he turned around giving them his back. Flynn rushed down the corridor and with a quick move he put an arm around the man's neck and with the other one he disarmed him. The masked man struggled in the headlock, but soon he was unconscious for the lack of oxygen.

Sharon and Tao joined him and looked at him in amazement.

"That was impressive" Tao commented as he took the gun from the man's combat vest and handed to the Captain, so she could have a better gun. He then picked up the automatic rifle from the floor.

"What?" Andy checked the other pockets "You think I'm just another pretty face?" he grinned.

Sharon chuckled. "Come on, we've got two more"

"These might be useful" Andy showed them a couple of smoke bombs.

"That's great" Sharon took one. "I hate to say it, but we might need to shoot immediately. If they have the trigger for the bombs, we can't risk identifying ourselves as police officers and then they blow up the whole building"

They both nodded. "Ready?" she asked and the quietly moved down the stairs. They walked down the corridor and slightly opened the main door that led to the hall. They saw the two guards posted at the entrance door, hiding behind two columns. One was facing outside while the other one was facing the other way. Luckily the room was dark enough to hide them behind the door.

"I take the one on the left" Andy said "Tao on the right" the Asian Lieutenant nodded. "Captain, you can get this party started" he said nodding towards the smoke bombs.

"On three. 1, 2…" she took the cap of the bombs

"… 3" and she rolled them in the hall and they exploded right in front of the terrorist.

"What's going…?" before they knew what was happening, Tao and Flynn burst inside the room and started shooting. Flynn hit his man in the arm, making him drop the trigger while Tao hit his target in the leg. The SWAT team posted outside saw the smoke and went in through the door, taking the injured men down and making the room secure.

"Captain Raydor" a tall dark haired man approached them. "I'm agent Foster" he nodded at them. "Good job here"

"Thanks," Sharon nodded. "So, how are we going to do this?"

"Team Alpha will disable all the bombs wired to the exits. While team Beta and Charlie will coordinate a simultaneously attack to the ballroom."

"Okay, mind if we joined you?" her tone clearly indicating it wasn't a question.

"Be my guests" Foster nodded.

"The Captain is not going in without a vest" Andy exclaimed earning a glare from the woman.

"Of course" he nodded towards one of his agents. "Here's three vest for you" he handed them over. "When you're ready"

Soon Flynn, Raydor and Tao and the SWAT teams surrounded the room and burst inside quickly taking down the terrorist who resisted. Someone surrendered as soon as they saw them kneeling on the ground, Malcolm instead tried to shoot the Governor but Raydor hit him before he could.

"Clear!" Foster shouted and all the hostages took a big breath of relief.

"Sharon" Flynn explained panicking. "You're hurt" he took her arm in his hands.

Sharon looked down and saw that a bullet had grazed her forearm. "It's nothing" she shook it away.

"No, you know protocol." He threw her rules against her "You need to have it check out. I'm sure there's an ambulance parked outside"

He tried to guide her outside but she stopped him. "I'll go" she patted his chest. "You need to stay here and help the others" she nodded towards Tao who was walking towards Provenza, Sanchez and Sykes. She was glad that they were all okay, except it look like Provenza was going to have a nasty black eye.

"But…"

"That's an order, Lieutenant" she told him firmly. He didn't like it, but nodded and saw her walking away.

"About time" Provenza grumbled as Flynn cut the plastic cuffs around his wrists.

"What? We've freed your sorry ass in just an hour, I say that's quite remarkable considering there were eleven of them."

"You should have seen him" Tao said liberating Sanchez and Amy. "Running, punching, shooting. He looked like a real James Bond" he smirked.

"Well, let me go and check my Bond girl" he grinned saluting the others.

"Oh God!" Provenza covered his face with his hands. Now they were in trouble. He winced when he felt his black eye.

He took him a while to find her. First a FID agent stopped him so he could write down his statement then a couple of reporters tried to interview him. He finally saw her sitting in the back of the ambulance. Taylor was standing by her side talking about something, but she clearly was just nodding for appearances as the paramedic worked on her arm and she tried to hide her winces of pain.

Andy walked towards them and caught the Chief's last words before leaving. "So I was clearly right in bringing you here tonight"

He shook his head. "So, wait a second" he said frowning "We did all the work and he takes the credit?"

"What can I say?" she smiled up at him.

"Well, Captain. We're done here. Just rest your arm for a week and go to your doctor for a prescription for painkillers" the paramedic instructed her.

"Thanks" Andy helped her get up and hand in hand they started walking towards his car. The other civilians had left the perimeter so it was up to them to find it.

"So, are you done here?" he asked hoping they could finally leave that place.

"Yeah, I gave my statement to FID before the Chief started babbling about something. I've already texted Rusty and he'll come by in the morning. His having fun, no need for him to cut it short even though he was worried"

"Well, I'm done with my report too. If they need something else they can call me in the morning or never for I care"

"So how about we leave and enjoy a nice cup of coffee somewhere?" she asked smiling and suddenly they heard fireworks in the distance. LA was celebrating the arrival of the new year, most of the people unaware of what had happened that night. "It's midnight" she stopped and turned towards him.

"Yeah" he whispered before leaning down and capturing her lips with his. They kissed passionately, their lips and tongues teasing each other. Their first kiss after all those months of testing the waters.

"Happy New Year, Andy" she gasped once his lips left hers.

"Happy New Year, Sharon" he sealed the promise with another kiss.

THE END


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